Women make history by becoming CEOs of Cork and Kerry councils
The Public Appointments Commission has recommended that Moira Murrell and Ann Doherty take up positions as chiefs executive of Kerry County Council and Cork City Council respectively.
It is expected the local authorities will ratify their appointments shortly.
Ms Murrell, a married mother of three-year-old triplets, started her career in Kerry County Council in 1993, before moving to Cork County Council in 2007.
That year, the Killarney native was appointed director of services for West Cork and four years ago, was elevated to the post of assistant county manager with responsibility for the North Cork region.
Ms Murrell obtained a degree in social science at the University of Limerick and followed it up with a masters in public management through the Institute of Public Administration.
“I’m looking forward to the challenge, but, having said that, I’m sorry to be leaving Cork County Council. The North Cork and Kerry areas are similar, but North Cork has a population of 90,000 whereas Kerry is larger with 145,000,” she said.
Unlike Ms Murrell, Ms Doherty does not have a background in local authorities. Her first job was as a general nurse at the former Cork Regional Hospital.
In the late 1980s, she emigrated to London where she worked a variety of clinical management and general manager roles at Kings College Hospital.
The married mother of two returned to Ireland in 1997 to work with the then Southern Health Board as part of a senior management team which focused on strategy and planning.
In 2004, she was appointed general manager of the Cork University Hospital Group. Later that year she was appointed as a national director of the HSE and later worked on the National Cancer Control Programme, supporting two cancer centres in the south and developing Radiation Oncology for Ireland.
Two years ago, she was appointed CEO of the University of Limerick Hospitals Group.
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